Reintroduction of history in school curriculum, a patriotic step

The planned reintroduction of history in the curriculum of primary and secondary schools by the Federal Government twelve years after its removal arguably is one of the most patriotic and profound decisions taken by the outgoing administration of President Muhammadu Buhari because of the inherent impacts on the present and future generations as well as the society at large.

Though its return, initially ordered in 2016, didn’t see the light of the day before now, due perhaps to a lack of political will, the need for due diligence and the relevant stakeholders to be carried through the planning process before the final implementation of the policy, the return portends good omen for Nigeria and in the national interest.

Therefore, we charge all those involved in enforcing the reintroduction to work assiduously and in harmony at the federal, state and local levels to ensure its speedy takeoff for primary and secondary schools students to start getting the full benefits associated with the teaching of the all-important subject.

According to an expert, the immediate and future generations stand to benefit immensely from the government’s decision because history used to be one of the fundamental and functional subjects taught in our classrooms that gives the students a deep sense of belonging to Nigeria’s historical background’.

Regrettably, the removal of history studies from primary and secondary schools curriculum became effective from the 2009/2010 academic session under the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo with the Federal Government launching a new curriculum known as the New Basic Education Curriculum for primary and junior secondary schools.

It maintained then that the unpopular decision became imperative following the dearth of qualified teachers for the subject, a move that was roundly condemned by many citizens who described it not only as a monumental mistake, lame duck but an evil agenda designed to serve parochial and selfish political interests.

Specifically, the vociferous opponents of its removal cited what is arguably the most famous quote about the subject: “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it” credited to Spanish and American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist, George Santayana.

We recall vividly too, that Benue State Governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom while decrying the decision, noted that, “Removing history from our curriculum is an evil agenda. So, in our schools here (Benue State) even if we do it and it is not accepted for examinations to be conducted at the level of SSCE, let’s do Mock Exams, this will be within us because we must know our history and we must know how we came here.

“We must know when we sojourned here and know people that came to join us. We must know what happened in 1800. All these are very important. If we don’t do it, we have failed as a generation and posterity will not forgive us,” even as others lamented that a “people without a history is a lost people” and that not teaching the subject had resulted in erosion of morals values and created a big lacuna in our children’s knowledge regarding past significant events involving their fatherland.

Truly, some historians further argued that the study of the subject also “encompasses more than dates, names, and places describe how cultures remember events, how those events are presented to the next generation, and how the present engages with the past, builds a better understanding of the world, helps understand humanity, teach us to be better citizens, help the world make better decisions, improve critical thinking, opens up job opportunities, protect people from conspiracy theories, shapes cultural (and national) identity and can facilitate empathy”.

However, following the criticisms and bowing to pressure, in 2016, the Buhari administration through the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, announced that the Federal Government was taking steps to restore the teaching of history as a subject in primary and secondary schools’ curriculum but that didn’t happen before now to the chagrin of most citizens.

But there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel after Adamu recently raised fresh hopes and that no fewer than 3700 history teachers have been selected nationwide for training and capacity building to kickstart the teaching of the subject perhaps from the 2023/24 academic session at the primary and Junior Secondary School, JSS levels.

Significantly also, the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council as well as the Historical Society of Nigeria, are reportedly working round the clock in collaboration with the ministries of education in the renewed push so that the new curriculum is expeditiously developed to accelerate the resuscitation of the subject expected to correct the negative repercussions of the misadventure of dropping it in the first instance.

We are particularly encouraged by the apparent show of synergy by all the relevant stakeholders in leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the current attempt becomes a reality as soon as possible and ultimately paved the way for a smooth reintroduction of the subject from the next academic session even though the incumbent administration has barely seven months left in office.

To address the reported shortage of teachers which warranted the initial removal of the subject, it is our strong view that authorities of tertiary institutions where history is taught should as a matter of national emergency strengthen its teaching by recruiting more lecturers and providing the necessary facilities for the training of a new generation of teachers nationwide.

Considering also that people without a history are doomed, such an expected increase in the number of quality teachers will meet the increasing demand for such personnel by primary and secondary schools as well as cater to the anticipated rise of students applying for the subject at the nation’s universities and colleges of education on account of the planned reintroduction.

Above all, the proposed return of the subject apart from affording pupils and students a fresh opportunity to understand Nigeria’s rich and complex pre-colonial and post-colonial history, especially the rise and fall of major empires, their kings, major events that shaped post-independence era including the various military interregnum, the first and second republics, the Nigerian civil war and its devastating impacts on society, the aborted third republic and how our democratic experiment had evolved from May 1999 till date.